Hilary Weston Writers Trust Prize for Nonfiction - Writers' Trust of Canada

It's been a long day. See you tomorrow.

Panzer's last stop today was at the Writers' Trust of Canada site.

 

The shortlist for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust contains five nonfiction books. Click the See More button under each book to see what the Jury Citation says about the book. The jurors and their bios are listed below the shortlisted books. Hilary Weston's bio is below the jurors'. The winner will be announced November 19.

 

Panzer says, "If you're Canadian and interested, the submission guidelines are also listed on the landing page."

 

Note:With books and author bios and the Jury Citations and juror bios and Hilary Weston's bio, this is a long post. You'll need to decide what to bring to snack on while you read.

 

To read the post tootle over to Hilary Weston Writers Trust Prize

 

Celebrating 2019 and 2020 Agatha Nominated Best Short Stories - Writers Who Kill

Today's trip into the Catosphere took Panzer to the Writers Who Kill site. There our brave kitty boy found a post about the Agatha Awards for Best Short Stories.

Go away Covid-thingey. We're finished with you.

The post by Paula Gail Benson list the nominees and the winners of the 2019 and 2020 Agatha Awards. Also included in the post are seven author bios with photos. There are only seven included because some authors were nominees both years. Because of Covid-19 the 2019 and 2020 Malice Domestic conferences were held online.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... This little kitty recognizes most of the writers from the Short Mystery Fiction Society."

Note: This is a long-medium length post. Bring a glass of lemonade and two cookies (biscuits) for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Short Story Agatha Award

 

The Six Online Bios Every Author Needs - Anne R. Allen's Blog

 Today Panzer decided to make a stop at Anne R. Allen's Blog. With a little digging in the posts our traveling kitty boy found one about the online bios authors need.

 

According to the post by Nate Hoffelder, an author needs six online bios. In the post he describes each of the six as Twitter, Facebook, Podcast/Speaker, Amazon/Goodreads, and Memberships. He dissects and rewrites his own bios as examples of what to do with your author bios.

 

I'm on Amazon/Goodreads & Twitter.

Panzer says, "How does he find the time for all those places?"

Note: This is a long, long post. Bring a thermos of cocoa, two muffins, two brownies and a chocolate chip cookie (biscuit).

 

To read the post tootle over to online bios

Design Your Own Website

You all know my bad, bad cat boy doesn't usually hang out at sites where there's no murder or mayhem. But today when he was out in the Catosphere he found The Violet Femmes blog. He immediately applied the Panzermobile's brakes because he thought it said The Violent Femmes. But it turned out okay, when he saw Maria K. Alexander's post Author Website Design 101.

No murder or mayhem? Oh, well.

You see, Panzer has been thinking of updating Cats and Crime and Maria's post has all kinds of suggestions. There are sections on your brand, your bio, your buy links, and your contact page. There's even a resource section with links to photo sites and hosting sites.

Panzer says, "If you don't have a site, this will get you setup. If you already have a site, this will get you updated."

To get the information you need for your site, tootle over to author website design

An Author Bio That Sells Books

Did you know?

Panzer was speeding around the Catosphere today. He was looking for someplace new to visit. He happened to find Ben Zackheim's blog.

My bad boy found a post there about writing your author bio at Amazon and the other e-retailers. The tips in the post include how to fine tune each bio to the specific e-retailer. Turns out we shouldn't use the same bio at Amazon and Barnes and Noble or any of the others. Each gets their own special bio. By tailoring the bio to each e-retailer, you are enhancing your reader appeal and by extension increasing your sales potential.

Panzer says, "I didn't know they were each supposed to be different. I need to make some changes right now!"

If you want help with your author bio, tootle over to author bio.

Writing Your Author Bio

Panzer and I were out in the Catosphere looking for more branding ideas today. We stopped in at one of his favorite blogs Writer Unboxed.

Panzer is doing the happy cat dance. He found author Keith Cronin's post "Five Ways to Fix a Boring Bio" just what he was thinking branding should be. Cronin explains how to add vim, vigor and verve to your author bio.

Let's face it, your author bio is a major part of your branding. This is where your readers can get to know the real you. And Cronin explains exactly how to tell your readers about your life (well, sort of).

So tootle on over to Writer Unboxed.

And remember: Panzer picked Keith Cronin's post. You have been warned.

What's Your Author Bio Myth?

Okay, you know Panzer and I have been tootling around the blogosphere for the last few days checking into marketing strategies. Today, we cruised over to writer Susan Sipal's blog Harry Potter for Writers.

Nosing around there Panzer found an interesting post. In the post Sipal puts forth the idea of writing your author bio myth and using it in your marketing. The example found in the post is how the story about J.K. Rowling's rags to riches story (as the on the dole mother who made it big writing) has become Rowling's author bio myth. Even though this wasn't strictly true, since she was working as a teacher when she got the book contract as Sipal points out.

I've seen the same kind of author bio myth with a romance author (no names here, so don't even ask)  I went to college with. This author says in her author bio myth that she was a stay at home mom who hadn't finished high school. She was writing her novels on rented equipment when she sold her first book. Another rags to riches story, but not entirely true as we were in college together when she sold that first book.

I have to admit, neither Panzer nor I are very comfortable writing an author bio myth about ourselves. I mean what are we going to say? (Tongue firmly in cheek here!) Panzer was the sixth of eight kittens born in a barn. His mother did her best to raise the kittens alone. His mother was too poor to send him to school. One day, Panzer decided to find a human (me) to write his adventures for him.

See what I mean? It's that myth part we're having a hard time with. What do you think Panzer should include in his myth? We've got to write something. Smashwords and Amazon both want author bios.

You can read Susan Sipal's post at Harry Potter for Writers. Then come on back and give us some ideas.

Writing An Ebook Author Bio That Pops

Your ebook has been rewritten and rewritten and rewritten. So, it finished, right?  Right? No, it's not. You still have the dreaded at the end of the ebook  About the Author to write. This can actually be the hardest part to write.  It's the last thing the reader will see and remember.

Writers tend to be private people. We keep our thoughts to ourselves. We have to. If we spend our time talking about our characters, plotting and scenes, we don't get any writing done.  It dissipates the energy and enthusiasm we feel for the story and we don't write it.

To write the author bio we have to open up and let the world know what we do. How are you going to do that? If you go to Smashwords free download site and get a couple of ebooks, you can read the author bios at the end of each. You'll find the good bios have certain things in common. They begin by telling who the author is now, then explaining how the author got here in the form of a brief history, and end by including contact information. The whole bio is only two or three paragraphs long.  That's all there is to it.

Easy, huh? Now go write that end of the book About the Author.

Oh, yeah. Panzer would like a little Thank You dedication for his help on this at the front of the book, too.